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Ousted Honduran leader at border as Congress mulls plan

US urges those in Honduran standoff to show restraint
The United States on Monday urged ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya and those who toppled him to show restraint as Costa Rica pursues mediation efforts to end the standoff. Zelaya, whose bid to return to Honduras on Friday was slammed as "reckless" by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has vowed to stay all week in Nicaragua just steps away from Honduras. "We're continuing to urge President Zelaya to allow this political process to play out, these negotiations that are being spearheaded by Costa Rican President (Oscar) Arias," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. "We are urging all sides to refrain from actions that would -- that would not further this process," he told reporters when asked about Zelaya's defiant stand. "And we see this attempt... to enter Honduras, absent any kind of political agreement between the two sides that would allow for his return, as not helpful," Kelly said. "And I think that all sides have to focus on coming... to a peaceful political resolution of this conflict," the US spokesman said. The head of the Honduran military, General Romeo Vasquez, told Radio Globo that he would not use deadly force against Zelaya supporters after the army gave its backing to mediation efforts. Kelly said the Obama administration still wants Zelaya restored as the democratically elected president, albeit by "mutual agreement." Kelly said he believed that Tom Shannon, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, was communicating with Zelaya and his aides. He added that it was possible Zelaya may return to Washington, which he visited following his June 28 ouster. "We know that he's expressed an interest to coming to -- to Washington, but we don't have any... any firm plans on... any set time for a meeting or any set time for him to come," Kelly added. Washington supports mediation efforts by President Arias, who has proposed the so-called San Jose Accord which calls for Zelaya to be restored to power, but with various limits. The interim leaders who took control after the army expelled Zelaya have welcomed some parts of the plan but rejected his return as president. Zelaya late Sunday ruled out further negotiations and said he would neither travel to Washington nor to a regional summit in Costa Rica this week.
by Staff Writers
Ocotal, Nicaragua (AFP) July 27, 2009
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya vowed to stay all week in Nicaragua just steps away from Honduras, as Congress was set Monday to debate a mediator's proposal to break a monthlong political deadlock.

The San Jose Accord, proposed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, calls for Zelaya to be restored to power, but with various limits.

The interim leaders who took control after the army expelled Zelaya on June 28 have welcomed some parts of the plan but rejected his return as president.

Zelaya late Sunday ruled out further negotiations and said he would neither travel to Washington nor to a regional summit in Costa Rica this week.

"There are no negotiations with the coup leaders," Zelaya said, adding that he sought to organize a "civic front of resistance against the coup" in the northern Nicaraguan border town of Ocotal.

Tension remained high on the border between the two Central American nations, with some 3,000 Honduran soldiers and police deployed in the area with orders to arrest Zelaya on charges of treason if he enters the country.

"I can't leave people here who are coming from Honduras," Zelaya said, as groups of Hondurans traveled mountainous terrain to avoid military roadblocks leading to the border with Nicaragua.

The interim government extended a curfew in the border zone as Congress -- dominated by supporters of leader Roberto Micheletti -- prepared to discuss the Arias proposal in the capital Tegucigalpa.

The military has supported the San Jose talks but said it would not accept a return of Zelaya.

The cowboy-hatted exiled president, who briefly stepped onto Honduran territory Friday, has said the talks have failed.

Zelaya, a former rancher who veered to the left after taking office, was ousted amid fears he sought to extend his rule beyond presidential term limits through a referendum on the Constitution.

earlier related report
Honduran military repositions as Zelaya seeks sanctions
The head of the Honduran military said Sunday his troops will not fire on supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya, as the deposed leader spent a third day across the border in Nicaragua plotting his return.

"We will not fire on our people," the armed forces commander, General Romeo Vasquez, told Honduran broadcaster Radio Globo, one of the few media outlets critical of the interim government headed by Robert Micheletti.

Vasquez was a key figure in the June 28 ouster of Zelaya and has defended the expulsion, but has said he was only enforcing a Supreme Court ruling.

"The armed forces are not the ones responsible for this internal division," Vasquez said on the radio show, during which he also talked with Zelaya's wife Xiomara Castro, who remained in Honduras and has been prevented from reaching the border.

Vasquez's comments were another sign that the Honduran military may be seeking to retreat from the turmoil created by Zelaya's sudden ouster and the internal division and international isolation that followed.

A statement posted on the Honduran military's website expressed "unrestricted support" for Costa Rica-mediated talks between Zelaya and Micheletti representatives, and said the military hoped to see a resolution "in the framework of the San Jose Accord."

The accord, proposed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, includes a call for Zelaya's restoration to power in Honduras, with various limits. Micheletti and his government however have rejected the deal.

The New York Times reported Sunday that the Honduran military communique, dated Friday, was drafted in Washington after days of talks between mid-level Honduran officers and US congressional aides, and was "significant" because it was the first sign of support for the San Jose Accord by a powerful sector of the interim government.

Meanwhile tension remained high on the border between Nicaragua and Honduras, with some 3,000 Honduran soldiers and police deployed in the area with orders to arrest Zelaya on charges of treason if he enters the country.

"We are organizing the resistance," Zelaya declared, saying he had set up camp some 100 meters (yards) from the border with his country, but inside Nicaragua near the Las Manos border crossing.

"Let us not be afraid. We are going for social reform, we are doing this for the presidency of Honduras and to see the coup plotters expelled," he told reporters in what he called a "symbolic show of sovereignty."

Zelaya set up his base in the Nicaraguan town of Ocotal, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Las Manos, and planned to spend the night there.

In Honduras, the Micheletti government said they were extending the curfew in the border area until 6 am (1200 GMT) Monday. The curfew began at midday (1800 GMT) Friday.

Saturday, the body of a 23-year-old Zelaya supporter was found next to a coffee field, bearing knife gashes and signs he had been beaten. Supporters of the ousted president accuse Honduran police of murdering the man.

Munoz was buried in Tegucigalpa on Sunday, as activists chanted "blood of martyrs, seeds of freedom!"

Zelaya, a former rancher who veered to the left after taking office, was ousted amid fears he sought to extend his rule.

Aides would not confirm whether he would again attempt to cross into Honduras. He briefly stepped across the border Friday, but returned to Nicaragua and has been there since.

Zelaya denied reports that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invited him to Washington, though he said he had seen media reports of a meeting Tuesday in the United States.

In Washington, the Honduran embassy announced that Zelaya had asked President Barack Obama to ban bank transactions and cancel the US visas of individuals "directly responsible for my abduction and the interruption of constitutional order in my country."

The list includes Micheletti, Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubi, public prosecutor Rosa America Miranda, and the top Honduran military brass.

"We believe that the measures that we are asking the US administration to take will exercise direct pressure on the perpetrators of the coup without causing any sort of negative impact on the people of Honduras," said Enrique Reina, Zelaya's new ambassador-designate in Washington.

However, two Republican members of the US Congress -- Representatives Brian Bilbray of California and Connie Mack of Florida -- showed up in Tegucigalpa Saturday in a display of support for the Micheletti regime.

Meanwhile hundreds of Central American truckers lined up in Nicaragua outside Las Manos as the curfew and roadblocks in Honduras have closed the border crossing.

Truckers transporting goods from Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua drive through Las Manos enroute to Honduras's Caribbean ports, so the items can be shipping to markets in the United States and Europe.

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Honduran military repositions as Zelaya seeks sanctions
Las Manos, Nicaragua (AFP) July 26, 2009
The head of the Honduran military said Sunday his troops will not fire on supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya, as the deposed leader spent a third day across the border in Nicaraguan plotting his return. "We will not fire on our people," the armed forces commander, General Romeo Vasquez, told Honduran broadcaster Radio Globo, one of the few media outlets critical of the interim ... read more







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